Help Prevent the BC3 Extradition With Just One Phone Call!

By
Jodie Emery
on August 5, 2007

There is a way you can help us with just a phone call! Call the Justice Minister of Canada, Robert Nicholson, and leave a message saying he should not committ Marc Emery, Michelle Rainey, or Greg Williams to extradition! (613) 957-4222 We urgently need people worldwide to voice their opposition!
The BC3 have not been to America, and carried out peaceful, non-violent, consenting political activism and business for over 13 years in Canada. Yet the US wants to extend their laws to our country…

Please, help end prohibition, protect nation’s sovereignty, and demand No Extradition for the BC3!

Phone (613) 957-4222, the Canadian Justice Minister, to say it would “shock your conscience” if Canadians Marc Emery, Greg Williams and Michelle Rainey were extradited to the United States – a country they never went to – especially when the alleged crimes receive a fine and not jail time in Canada. If they have broken the law in Canada, they should be tried in Canada. Click here to download the new double-sided “No Extradition” handout document, and distribute copies everywhere!

Five Things You Can Do to Help Save the BC3 from Extradition to the USA

Marc Emery, Michelle Rainey, and Greg Williams (the BC3) are Canadian citizens who were heavily involved in anti-prohibition activism in Canada for more than ten years. The United States is attempting to extradite these Canadian cannabis activists to face 10 years to life in US federal prison. Here are five things that anyone can do to help prevent the BC3 from being extradited. Please don’t just read this list and then do nothing. This is a crucial battle about national sovereignty, individual freedom, and ending the drug war – a battle we must win.

1) Contact the Canadian Justice Minister – Constantly!

Canada’s Justice Minister is currently Robert Nicholson of the Conservative Party. It is largely his decision whether Canada will extradite the BC3. No matter where you are in the world, please contact the Justice Minister every week – we definitely need active vocal and written support from Canadians, Americans and the international community. The goal is to keep the phone line constantly tied up with calls and voice mails about the BC3, so that the Justice Department phones are ringing steadily about the case every day. Always be very polite when you call, and say that you are calling because it would “shock your conscience” for the BC3 to be extradited to the US for alleged crimes committed on Canadian soil. Say that you believe that if the BC3 have broken the law in Canada, they should be tried in Canada, under Canadian laws. If you have access to a fax machine then please also send a daily or weekly fax as well. Weekly phone calls, faxes, and especially handwritten letters that are polite and concisely composed are effective political pressure. When writing mail, ask for a response in writing from the Justice Minister himself.

Please contact all of the following newspapers with a new letter every week. Don’t write something long and full of details. Instead, send a short letter (under 200 words) that offers quick facts about the American efforts to extradite the BC3, why you oppose it, and why others should too. (Key point: Sovereignty!) Don’t just send one mass email to all of these media at once, but email them individually. Write different letters about the same topic, and send them to the media every week. A more thorough list of Canadian media outlets is online: http://mapinc.org/cmap/press.htm

3) Contact your Member of Parliament and Member of Legislative Assembly

If you are in Canada, then contact both your MP and your MLA. Try to make an appointment for a personal visit. Also have every one of your friends and family members each make their own phone call as well. The more calls they receive the better. Just say that you are calling because you want your elected representative to oppose the extradition of any Canadian to a foreign country when their actions are not considered a serious crime in Canada. Remind them that Emery is the leader of a legitimate political party, that the Canadian government has knowingly collected taxes from his US seed sales for a decade, and that Emery has operated openly without interference from Canadian police since 1998. Tell your MP and MLA that Canada should not be sending political activists to jail in foreign countries, especially when their actions are not even considered to be an “arrestable offence” in Canada. You can find your MP online at www.parl.gc.ca and you can find your MLA at these websites:

Marc, Michelle and Greg are accumulating huge legal bills in order to fight the extradition, but were robbed of their livelihoods with the raid and closure of Emery Seeds. But they are still determined to help the movement by spreading awareness about the drug war through the political party, magazine and store! Please consider donating to or buying from the BC Marijuana Party (www.bcmarijuanaparty.com), Cannabis Culture Magazine (www.cannabisculture.com/newstore), or Marc Emery’s Cannabis Culture Headquarters store (307 West Hastings Street, Vancouver BC, 604-682-1172).

5) Rally in your community

If you are in Canada, then try to put on a rally in your community to protest this incursion of the US Drug War into Canada. The focus of your rally should not be on the marijuana laws, but rather that Canadians within Canada are not subject to US law. The Canadian courts and people have decided that selling marijuana seeds is a trivial, non-arrestable offence. The Canadian government has steadily collected sizable taxes from Marc Emery’s US seed sales for 10 years. If Emery has broken the law in Canada then he should be charged and tried here. If he has broken no laws in Canada then he should not be extradited to the US for a life sentence. If there is a US consulate office in your city that is a good place to rally at, otherwise use a park or other government building. Please contact us at the BC Marijuana Party and Cannabis Culture Magazine to let us know what you are up to.